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A Munro is a Scottish hill with a height over 3000 feet (914.4 m). They are named after Sir Hugh Munro (1856–1919), who produced the first attempt at an exhaustive catalogue of such hills, known as Munro's Tables, in 1891. There are other classifications of lower Scottish hills, including the Corbetts, the Grahams and (in the south of the country), the Donalds. However, the Munros are unique in that they lack a rigid set of criteria for inclusion. Since the list's initial publication, much debate has taken place over how distinct two hills must be if they are to be considered as two separate Munros. The decisions of the editors of the Tables (the Scottish Mountaineering Club) have often been criticised for being subjective and erratic, with some hills being removed from the Tables in one revision, only to be graced with Munro status again in the next.
Today there are generally reckoned to be 284 Munros. They are all in the Scottish Highlands, north of the Highland Boundary Fault. The tables also include many more tops which are high points which are regarded as being insufficiently distinct to merit being tabulated as separate mountains.
Despite their modest height, walking and climbing in the Scottish mountains may be made treacherous by their latitude and exposure to Atlantic weather systems. Even in summer, conditions can be atrocious; thick fog, strong winds, driving rain and freezing summit temperatures are commonplace. Winter ascents of certain Munros are widely accepted to provide among the most challenging ice climbs in Europe. Sadly, some walkers are unprepared for the often extreme weather conditions on the exposed tops and many fatalities are recorded every year, often resulting from slips on wet rock or ice.
Some hillwalkers climb Munros with an eye to climbing every single one -- a practice casually known as "Munro-bagging". Having climbed all of them, a walker is entitled to be called a Munroist. Munro-bagging is undoubtedly the most popular form of Peak bagging.
Probably the most famous Munro is Ben Nevis in the Lochaber area. It is the highest peak in Scotland and the entire U.K, with an altitude of 1,344 m (4,409 feet). Other famous Munros include:
- Lochnagar, a mountain near the Royal Castle of Balmoral in the area of Glen Muick
- Sgurr nan Gillean, Sgurr Alasdair and the Inaccessible Pinnacle, in the Cuillin Hills on the Isle of Skye
- Liathach in Torridon
- The Devil's Point, Cairn Gorm and Ben Macdui in the Cairngorms
- Ben Lomond
Notable completions
Hugh Munro never completed his own list, missing out on the Inaccessible Pinnacle of Sgurr Dearg on the Isle of Skye and Carn Cloich-mhuillin in the Cairngorms.
The first completionist was the Reverend A. E. Robertson, in 1901.
Hamish M. Brown did the first continous self propelled round of the Munros (except for the Skye and Mull ferries) between April 4th and July 24th 1974 walking 1,639 miles, 150 kms of which were on a bicycle, with 449,000 feet of ascent. The walk is fully documented in his book "Hamish's Mountain Walk", which is often credited with kick-starting the popularity of Munro-bagging as a hobby.
The first person to complete a winter round (all the Munros in one winter season) was Martin Moran in 1985.
On July 16, 2000, Charlie Campbell, a postman from Anniesland in the west end of Glasgow, scampered across the upper slopes of Ben Hope in Sutherland, clambered on to the summit cairn and so completed, in 48 days 12 hours, the fastest round of the Munros as of 2003.
As of 2003, more than 3,000 people have completed the Munros.
External links
- The Scottish Mountaineering Club's official page on the Munros, including completionists
- Ben Lawers Seven Munros
- The Munros of Scotland
- Another list of Munros
- Guide to climbing the Munros